Crist's inquiry was for political gain, critics say

[DoYouEverWonder]

October 12, 2006

TALLAHASSEE - Two black lawmakers on Wednesday joined the criticism of Attorney General Charlie Crist's attempt to solve the 1951 murders of a civil rights leader and his wife.

"Crist's investigation brought no new facts and now he wants to come forth and say all the things he'd done in this case to try to make headway in the black community, which I think is playing politics," state Sen. Les Miller, D-Tampa, said during a conference call arranged by the campaign of Jim Davis, the Democratic opponent of Crist's, a Republican, in the governor's race.

The Attorney General's Office spent nearly two years looking into the murders of Harry T. Moore and his wife, who were killed when a bomb went off under their house in Mims on Christmas night 1951. Crist stopped short of declaring the case solved, saying in August that "extensive circumstantial evidence" points to a conspiracy by four members of the Ku Klux Klan, all of whom are long dead.

Moore's daughter, Evangeline Moore, 76, offered praise for Crist and agreed to be filmed for a TV commercial reading a letter of thanks. Crist said Tuesday he no longer intends to use the footage in an ad.

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/10/12/State/Crist_s_inquiry_was_f.shtml